Student Affairs

Objective 1: Attract and retain a diverse community of students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

Metric 18: Grow the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff.

Strategies:

Publicize staff openings in publications and on web sites known to attract diverse candidates, and place an emphasis on maintaining or increasing the diversity of our staff.

Emphasize diversity as a core value of Student Affairs and Miami University as part of the interview and on-boarding process for every job candidate and new employee.

Increase the cultural competence of all staff to encourage the likelihood of retaining diverse staff and students.

Provide culturally-sensitive physical and psychological health services to all students.

Promote belongingness for marginalized students through targeted programs and mentoring opportunities.

Work with enrollment management and the academic divisions to support and expand outreach programs such as Bridges and Summer Scholars.

Explicitly consider as a division the professional research on structural and individual biases that might be found in higher education, and identify ways to reduce this bias.

Work closely with students to find ways to promote the ideals inherent in the Miami Values Statement through the “I Am Miami” and Step Up bystander initiatives, and work to measure the impact of those efforts.

Hold exit interviews with all departing personnel to determine whether concerns related to climate contributed to the exit decision.

Challenges and Opportunities:

Creating a dynamic and extended new SAF employee orientation program that better informs staff about the values of the division as well as the university

Reviewing our programs and services to be sure they are meeting the needs of all of our students

Working in collaboration with student organizations to promote the “I am Miami” ideals.

Objective 2: Create an environment where our people live, learn, and work cooperatively with those of widely varied backgrounds, beliefs, abilities, and lifestyles, moving beyond boundaries to welcome, seek, and understand diverse peoples and perspectives.

Metric 19: 75% of Miami students will report that they feel welcome and have had significant and meaningful interactions with diverse groups.

Strategies:

Emphasize that inclusiveness is a core value of SAF, and ensure that working toward that goal is interwoven into the work of all SAF offices

Continually review new student orientation and welcome week programming to ensure that there are opportunities for diverse groups of students to interact and learn about each other, while building a sense of community

Increase the number of students participating in service opportunities locally and through trips similar to Alternative Spring Break to learn more about people and communities who may have backgrounds and experiences different than their own

Create a synergistic relationship between multicultural awareness and leadership development programs.

Identify opportunities for partnerships between the Office of Diversity Affairs (ODA) and student organizations to produce joint programming.

Identify opportunities for collaboration and issues of joint concern between the Office of Diversity Affairs and the Women’s Center.

Charge the student counseling service and divisional care team to enhance outreach to the academic departments to identify ways to support students who do not feel welcome and target interventions for those populations.

Integrate assessment into the FYE course to help identify students who may be having adjustment challenges.

Develop more SAF mentoring programs for students who can benefit from additional support.

Challenges and Opportunities:

Identifying and delivering an accurate measure of student satisfaction with belongingness, inclusion, and perceptions of campus diversity.

Reviewing SAF reporting lines to increase the interactions and likelihood of partnerships between related offices.

Objective 3: Achieve cultural competency among members of the Miami community by immersing them in domestically and globally relevant learning experiences.

Metric 20: By the time of graduation, 60% of Miami students will have studied abroad or studied away.

Strategies:

Expand SAF divisional support to academic international programs in part by developing enhanced complementary developmental opportunities, such as pre-departure orientations and post-experience reflections.

Metric 21: All Miami students will have a curricular or co-curricular cultural learning experience, (e.g., intensive community engagement, service learning experience, intercultural or global learning requirement) by the time they graduate.

Strategies:

Increase the number of students who participate in community service, service-learning, and off-campus trips such as alternative spring break.

Promote and track students’ engagement with the Office of Diversity Affairs and the Women’s Center and their programs.

Increase service experiences in the Greek community to complement their philanthropic efforts.

Encourage all SAF offices to review their programs to promote a culture of service among students.

Encourage greater cross-cultural interactions among students by adopting a strategic priority of broadening the participation of all SAF departmental programs.

Revisit the cultural competency component of the residential curriculum, and explore ways to enhance this component through new LLCs, programming, and greater partnerships across LLCs.

Challenges and Opportunities:

Developing a tracking system that incorporates service-learning and community service participation in opportunities offered through Community Engagement and Service Learning or through other departments across the University

Ensuring that all SAF offices are offering and evaluating service and intercultural programming (as appropriate) through the annual report process.

Metric 22: All faculty and staff will engage in meaningful, globally diverse cultural activities (e.g., volunteer or community engagement, course or workshops on global and intercultural topics, professional training on diversity issues, regular interaction with diverse groups, participation in cultural events) within the past 24 months.

Strategies:

Organize division-wide community service days to encourage participation and community building.

Organize at least one professional development opportunity per term focused on increasing knowledge of diverse populations and/or cross-cultural competence (e.g., programs, ally training, conferences).

Outline professional development requirements for each staff member to build a baseline of cultural competence through programs, trainings, and/or conference attendance.

Challenges and Opportunities:

Developing an institutionally recognized and accepted definition of “meaningful and globally diverse” as well as building consensus on what represents appropriate activities.

Metric 23: Miami will expand, virtually and physically, by 50%, its international partnerships to increase its impact on the global stage.

Strategies:

Increase involvement with the Offices of Admissions and Global Initiatives to support the transition process of our international students and the support of their parents.

Seek out additional global career and internship opportunities for students who would like to work abroad.

National Recognition

National Recognition

John E. Dolibois European Center, Luxembourg

One of Miami's oldest continuous study abroad programs, the Miami University John E. Dolibois Center (MUDEC) in Luxembourg offers students the opportunity to enroll in Miami classes taught by European-based and Ohio-based Miami faculty. Students enjoy a unique combination offirst-class academics, engagement in the local community, and various faculty-guided and independent travel opportunities.

Voice of America Learning Center

Located midway between Cincinnati and Dayton along I-75, the Voice of America Learning Center (VOALC) offers undergraduate and graduate courses and programs drawn from Miami's Regional and Oxford campuses. Home to Miami's MBA program, the Learning Center provides ready access to graduate programs for area educators and courses leading to the BIS degree for undergraduates.

Hamilton Regional Campus

A compact, friendly, commuter campus, Miami Hamilton offers bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and beginning coursework for most four-year degrees. Small class sizes, on-site child care, and flexible scheduling make Miami Hamilton attractive to students at all stages of life and career.

Miami University, Oxford Ohio

Nationally recognized as one of the most outstanding undergraduate institutions, Miami University is a public university located in Oxford, Ohio. With a student body of 16,000, Miami effectively combines a wide range of strong academic programs with faculty who love to teach and the personal attention ordinarily found only at much smaller institutions.